Rose Hill Plantation offers a glimpse of the past

Dec. 26, 2013

Crumbling brick walls surround the Gist family cemetery.

Written by

Charles Sowell

Contributor

From Greenville take Interstate 385 to the state Route 49 exit. Follow Route 49 toward Union until you get to Cross Keys House. Take Old Buncombe Road for about 5 miles to Rose Hill Plantation.

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The ruins of the Gist family cemetery are perched on a rise overlooking the Tyger River valley in Union County; it is a gothic scene, with crumbling brick walls surrounding the graves. A cold wind blows off the river, whistling through the bare branches of dormant oaks.

William Henry Gist was the last South Carolina governor before the Civil War. His Rose Hill Plantation has been lovingly restored by the Parks Recreation and Tourism department. Tampas Alderman is the park manager at Rose Hill, and supervision of the house falls largely on him.

Restoring the house to its original state is a labor of love with a healthy dose of detective work thrown in for good measure. The original door frames were painted black, not the creamy white they are now, he said.

Known as the “Secession Governor,” Gist and his second wife lived the life of plantation gentry at Rose Hill, with dozens of slaves who were used to care for the house and work the sprawling fields of cotton that stretched down to the river. You can still see evidence of the old terraces used to control erosion in the piney woods that surround the house today.

“The only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union,” Gist wrote after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. The family’s tale is filled with melodramatic moments like this.

Gist’s son by his second wife, Mary E. Gist, was killed in Tennessee while fighting in the war. Mary Gist, according to Alderman, had 12 children with her husband, and only four of them lived to adulthood.

The real monument to the Gist family is the house, which is built of solid masonry fired on the plantation by the slaves.

Admission to the grounds is free. House tours: $5 age 16 and up, $3 for state seniors, $4 age 6-16, children under 5 are free.

Park grounds are open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. House museum tours are held March-October, daily at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.; and November-February, Thursday through Monday at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. The mansion is only accessible by guided tour.